Let me say from the start I am not an extreme thrill seeker. Far from it. You won’t find me paddling out from under the mists of Victoria Falls into the world’s most dangerous, class five, rapids. No. If you know me at all then you know I am much more likely to be found lolling in a summer punt with my fingers trailing the water.
Yet despite this, I am about to throw caution to the wind and embark on a big, new adventure. One that will take me right out of my comfort zone and into poetry.
I’ve been saving poetry up like pennies in a jar or perhaps I should say like gold in a vault; all those poets to read, all those poems to write. The writing is what makes it scary of course. But I’ve set off and there’s no going back now. I’m sure of that because I’ve already signed up and paid for an Arvon poetry course. (Even more scary) I am way out of my comfort zone but that’s where the writing thrills lie for me. I mean business, and my blog – here – is the place I intend to mull over that business and to map my journey.
I hope you might consider joining me to find out what I’m learning about poetry. But that’s not to forget what I already know about short stories. I haven’t finished with short stories by a long way and I’m still editing the stories that make up, The Astronomer’s Daughter.
I will be writing about both here – but here’s a thought on poetry to begin with –
What I’m learning about reading poetry is that you either have to write in pencil on the book (heaven forbid but why not) or you need a notebook by your side – because I guarantee there will be lines that will take your breath away, lines you will want to remember and feel the magic of under your own hand – here are two I wrote out in my notebook this morning.
‘and that great chord of breath drowning out the summer ocean…’ D Nurske from Voices Over the Water
‘to stand in the rain and purple of evening
our stories behind us like toys we’ve forgotten or lost..’ Katherine Towers The Remedies
Good luck with your poetry course and with the editing Avril.
I am recently bereaved – my mother – and find myself on a poetry discovery journey which is pure joy and healing (although I am not specifically reading poems about grief).
When I started, I didn’t know where to start or have much capacity to make a choice – those early days and weeks after a big loss – and so I have ‘The Emergency Poet’ and two anthologies of poems for every day of the year so that, for now, I don’t even have to make a decision about what to read. I just read the poems that are offered. As you say, there is magic in each one and an unveiling of life and oneself. Pure joy.
Hi Kelly – thank you so much for reading and for sharing your own journey into poetry which has come after such a big loss. I feel sure poetry can offer the healing you speak of. I really like the idea of reading what is offered up. I do the same some days on my phone where I have the poetry foundation app which if you click SPIN offers up a random choice of poetry.
Good luck with your journey, do stay in touch